TORONTO PUNKS THE FLATLINERS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM "NEW RUIN" AT FAT WRECK CHORDS!
The first single plus video can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKH_LtQDlyc
The FLATLINERS are celebrating their 20th band anniversary. And what better way to kick down the door than with a brand new album and fresh tour dates (including here)! Additionally, the band is returning to FAT WRECK.
The upcoming album is titled "New Ruin", and will be released on August 5.
Vocalist Chris Cresswell explains: "The return to FAT for the release of our new album feels like a family reunion that you absolutely want to attend. A fresh start that we can all stand behind. It just feels like home to us."
The Fat Wreck Crew can only agree and is excited to have THE FLATLINERS back on board.
Chris Cresswell on the new song:
"There is a despair that is spreading among us humans, and it is the need to be validated. A shadow of what is truly real, a version of the truth, an idea at any given moment. As the world around us becomes increasingly mechanical in making connections, we humans abuse that power to simply brag or complain by feverishly trying to create a moment instead of just enjoying it. We feel like we are in an age of insincerity where people spend their time on nothing but maintaining an image. Time is now ticking in performative hours."
When you play in a band for 20 years, you not only change yourself. It also changes the way you see the world and your place in it. For the long-established punks from Toronto, a new album means a new opportunity to put the inherited legacy they have represented so far and everything they will pass on to a fresh examination. It is an imperfect legacy, but not without hope.
"This record presents us in an uncomfortable moment where the world around us is collapsing, and we are then striving to learn from it," says the singer and guitarist. "No one has to listen to us, but we at least want to try to be heard."
"New Ruin" is an adrenaline rush from a band that attacks outdated institutions and ideologies with pointed lyrics and their strongest songs to date. And with a wildness that will surprise even long-time fans. From the monstrous, dissonant hits that open the album to the de facto thesis paper "Heirloom", it becomes clear that THE FLATLINERS are angry in a way we have never heard from them before.
At the same time, they have never had such good control. Songs like "Performative Hours" and "Recoil", which Cresswell produced together with the rest of the band, boil with vibrant post-hardcore energy, while "Souvenir" and "Big Strum" offer a tighter aggression that immediately connects to the band's anthemic punk past. Recorded at Noble Street Studios in Toronto and at Genesis Sound with long-time friend and sound engineer Matt Snell, the album sounds both open and immediate, the cumulative effect of now two decades of shared performances. Cresswell says, as he took the reins: "When you’ve been in it for 20 years and you no longer trust yourself..."
"New Ruin" was mastered by what Chris calls a "dream team" with Anton DeLost at the mixing desk and Blasting Room legend Jason Livermore. The record cleverly combines the pop ambitions of "Inviting Light" with an aggression that the band has only hinted at before by indulging in their grimmest tendencies. It’s an approach that the songs - and the moment - demand. Let’s take "Heirloom":
"It’s a hate letter to the previous generation," says Cresswell. "All their brilliance and ingenuity have left our generation and future generations stranded, who can no longer afford the world we live in, with this enormous emotional and ecological toll. That’s so demoralizing." But amidst the rubble of the modern hellscape, the band is not without hope. The album closer "Under A Dying Sun" offers its own version of comfort and redemption, bringing the crashing album to a close with a thoughtful grandeur that at least suggests a light at the end of the tunnel.
Perhaps it’s because THE FLATLINERS, despite the voiced darkness, had fun for the first time in a long time. They produced themselves, recorded with friends, and played music together after being apart for almost 600 days - the longest stretch since their founding in 2002. "New Ruin" is also the sound of a band rediscovering the joy of creating something meaningful together. Cresswell calls it a gift.
"There’s another side of negativity that can be heard on this record," he says, "it’s also a strong time. There are so many people talking about things that should have been talked about a long time ago. That’s a step in the right direction. Art and music can be a part of that. We’ve all kind of messed it up, so we can try to fix it again. It’s not too late yet, but it’s almost too late. It’s almost too late."
EUROPEAN TOUR TO CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF THE BAND
THE FLATLINERS LIVE 2022
04.08.2022 Cologne - MTC Club
07.08.2022 Hamburg - Knust
08.08.2022 Tolmin (Slovenia) - Punk Rock Holiday 2022
09.08.2022 Munich - Strom
12.08.2022 Limburg - Tells Bells Festival 2022
13.08.2022 Berlin - SO36
